Page 42 of Virgin Sacrifice

“I know you said you don’t want to go out to celebrate your birthday . . .”

I went rigid in my seat, my jaw tight and my hands clenched at the thought of her trying to convince me again.

She held up both of her palms placatingly. “I know, I know, just listen to me, okay?”

The cheerful sparkle was back in her eyes, which was the only reason I bit down on my lip and forced myself to remain quiet and let her continue.

“Since you don’t want to go out, which I have learned to respect,” she said with pointed diplomacy, before getting visibly more nervous. “I was wondering if you would, like, maybe want to go out for brunch to celebrate instead?” Autumn stammered, and the tension I had been carrying melted. “You know,” she went on, “or something else, that’s just, like, super low-key, where we can relax and have fun. No pressure to even acknowledge it’s your birthday, even. Really, it could just be girl time.”

I reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “Brunch on Sunday sounds wonderful,” I said with a real smile.

Maybe she wasn’t a perfect friend. But neither was I.

The next day, when Autumn texted me around four to come over to her room “ASAP,” I assumed it was because she wanted to get an early start on getting ready to go out that night.

I loaded up one of the cute reusable shopping bags I always seemed to have lying around with all my different styling tools and products. Then threw in a bunch of my own snacks just to be safe, before making my way over to her room.

You could never have too many snacks.

I was surprised to see that she had left the door deliberately unlocked. I opened it up and stepped in, preparing to scold her for being so lax with her safety.

There was no one there.

My heart dropped inside my chest as my bag crashed to the floor.

“Autumn!” I yelled immediately, more than willing to be guilty of overreacting if she would just answer me and be okay.

My heart pounded in my chest as silence filled the air until . . .

“BLETCHHHHHH!”

I rushed over to the bathroom to see a familiar set of auburn tresses bowed deeply over the toilet bowl.

“Luz . . .” she whimpered.

I grabbed the nearest towel and dropped down onto the floor beside her. “Shh,” I said, delicately gathering her hair back and gently securing it into a ponytail. “It’s going to be okay, sweetie. How long have you been throwing up for?”

“It started about thirty minutes ago.” I noticed how clammy and pale her skin was. “I feel like death,” she moaned.

I got up to put together a cool washcloth for her before returning to join her on the floor. “Do you want to go to the campus clinic?” I asked.

“No,” she replied, eyeing the toilet as though she might need it again shortly. “It’s probably just food poisoning or a stomach bug. There’s not much they can do for that beyond fluids and pain meds.”

“I can run to the nearest pharmacy and pick up stuff if you need—‍”

At that moment, her face turned an alarming shade of green, and she quickly turned back to the toilet, where she proceeded to puke her guts out for the next five minutes.

There we sat for the next ninety minutes as she suffered through bouts of vicious vomiting before it finally seemed like her stomach settled.

We got her cleaned up, and I helped her into bed and cajoled her into drinking some Gatorade and a water before setting up the largest garbage can I could find next to her.

“I can’t believe I’m going to miss Halloween,” she whimpered.

“I know, sweetie, it’s not fair.” I perched on the bed next to her and began stroking her hair. Mami would play with my hair whenever I was feeling sick, and it always made me feel better. “Want me to message Aaron and let him know that you are sick?”

“Yes, please,” she mumbled, her face half-buried in her pillows.

I texted Aaron to let him know that Autumn was sick and wouldn’t be making it out tonight.

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